The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-02-24

ing the fool l stood on the beach locking |
off upon the sea; and there was q strong
wind blowing, and l noticed that some Of |
the vessels wero going that way, and
other vessels we're going another way. / said |
to myself: "How is it that the same wind
sends one vessel in one direction and
another vessel in another directionW | found
out, by looking, that it was the different
way they had tho sails set. And so does
trouble come on this world. Some men it
drives into the harbor of helven and other
men it drives on the rocks 1t depends upon
the way you have your sails set. All the At
lantic and Pacific oceans of surging sorrow
cannot sink soul that has asked for Gods
pilotage The difficulty is that when we
have msortuncs of any kind we put them in
Gods hand, and they stay there little
while; and then we go and get them again,
and bring them back. A vessel comes in
from q foreign port. As it comes near the
harbor it sees a pilot floating about. 1t
halls the pilot. The pilot comes on board, and
he says: "Now, captain, you have had
stormy passage. Go down and sleep, and L
will take tho vessel down into New York har-
bor." After awhile the captain begins to
think: cam I right in trusting this vessel to
that pilot? I guess I'll go up and see." So he
comes to the pilot and says: Don't you see
that rock? Don't you see those headlands?
You will wrccl, the ship. Let me lay hold
the helm for awhile for myself and then I'll
trust to you" The pilot becomes angry, and
says: II will either take care of this ship or
not. If you want to, will get into my yawl
and go ashore, or back to my boat" Now we
say to the Lord: 90, God. take my life, take
my all in Thy keeping! Be Thou my guide;
be Thou my pilot" We go along for little
WHILE and suddenly wake up and say:
"Things are going all wrong. o, Lord, we
are driving on these rocks, and Thou art go
ing to let US be shipwrecked." God says:
"You go and rest; will take charge Of this
vessel, ard take it into the harbor. 1t is Gods
business to comfort, and it is our business to
be comforted Herbert. the great thinker, phil
osophized about himself, philosophical about
this world, philosophical about everything,
then in his dying moments asked that only
one word might be cut upon his tombstone,
and that word sInfelicissimus'-rloSt unhap
py-descriptive of the state of the lives and
of the deaths of those who take their case out
of the hand of God. The only appropriate
inscription for their banqueting hall, and
their equipage, and their grave, and the wall
of their eternal prison house-"Infelicissi
mus" In drooling, moral idiocy, they are
scrabbling at the door Of their happiness,
which never opens, miserably playing the
fool.
Again: l remark that all those persons
played the fool, as certainly did this man of
the text, who allow the technicalities of re-
ligion to stop their salvation David was
wise about great many things, but his cut
tings-up In the text for a little while eclipsed
his character And I know wise men and
great men, competent for all other stations,
who are acting silly and foolish part in re-
gard to the technicalities of religion. They
ask us some questions which we cannot an
swer categorically, and so they burst into
broad guffaw as though it is of any more in
terest to us than it ought to be to them.
About the atonement, about Gods DEGREES,
about mans destiny, they ask a great many
questions which we cannot answer, and so
they deride us, as though we could
not ask them thousand questions that
they cannot answer, about their eyes, about
their ears, about their finger nails, about
everything. A fool can ask a question that
a wise man cannot answer. Oh, you cavil-
ing menl Oh, you profound menl Oh, you
learned men, do please admit something.
You have a sou2 Yes viii 1t live for
ever? Yes. Where? You say that Jesus
Christ is not a divine Saviour. Who
Is he2 Where will you go after you leave
your law books, and your medical prescrip-
tions, and your club room and your news
paper office-where will you go to? Your
body will be six feet under ground, Where
will your soul be? The black coat will be off,
the shroud on. Those spectacles will be re-
moved from your vision, for the sod will
press your eyelids. Have you any idea that
an earthly almanac describes the years Of
your lifetime? OF what stuff shall l gather
the material for the letters of that word
which describes your eternal home? Shall it
be iron chain or amaranthine garlands The
air that stirs the besweated locks of your dy-
ing pillow, will it come off a garden or a
desert? o, quit the puzzling questions
Quit the small questions and
try these great questions Instead
of discussing whether the serpent in Eden
was ffgurative or literal, whether the Medit-
erranean fish did or did not swallow the rec
reant prophet whether this and that, and
the other thing is right or wrong come and
discuss one question: "How shall | get rid
of my sins and win heaven?" That is the
question for you. Yea, there have been
men who have actually lest their souls
because they thought there was a discrep-
ancy between Moses and Professor Sill
man-because they could not understand
how there could be light before the sun
rose-the light appearing in verse 3 of
Genesis, and the sun appearing not until
verse 16--and because they do not know how
the moon could stand still without upsetting
the universe, and because they had decided
upon the theory of natural selection
German philosopher in dying had for his
chief sorrow that he had not devoted his
whole life to the study of the dative case
Oh when your Immortality is i'll peril, why
bubble? Quit these non-essentials, my dear
brother. In the name of God, l ask you in
regard to these matters of the immortal soul,
that you do not play the fool.
What is that man doing over in Bowling
Green, New York? Well, he is going in for
a ticket for q transatlantic voyage. lie is
quarreling with the clerk about the spots
the red spots on the ticket-and he is quarrel
ing about the peculiar signature of the presi-
dent of the steamship company, and he is
quarreling about the manner of the clerk who
| hands hiIy. the ticket. How long has he been
standing therea Three weeks. Meanwhile
perhaps twenty steamers have gone cut of
| port, and hear the Shrek Of the steam tug
| that could take him to the last vessel that
| could bear him to his engagement in Lon
don Still he stands in Bowling Green
discussing the ticket What do you
say in regard to that mars You say
ne is fool. Well, in that very way are many
men acting in regard to many matters of the
soul. They are caviiing about the atone
nent, the red spots on the ticket, about the
! character of the minister who hands them the
! ticket-about whether it has divine or hu-
man signature, and meanwhile, all their op-
! portunitieS for heaven are sailing out OF the
barbor, and ] hear the last tap of the bell
announcing their last chance for heaven. Go
| aboard Do not waste any more time in hig-
Cling and carping, and criticising, and Won
dering, and, in the presence of an astoundcd
heaven, playing the fool
| 1gostill further, and say to you that those
men play the fool who undertake to pay out
eternity for time. How little care do we be-
stow upon the railroad depot where we stop
| twenty minutes to dine. We dash in and we
J dash out again. We do not examine the
s.